ProFood World December 2023

December 2023

MANUFACTURING INNOVATION

PRESTAGE FOODS CHAMPIONS AIR-CHILLED TURKEY New Sustainability Tricks for an Old Craft Brewer Robots Help Keep Pace With Meal Kits Faster Time to Results for Food Safety

CONVEY

DUMP ®

FLEXI-DISC® Tubular Cable Conveyors gently slide fragile foods and non-foods through smooth stainless steel tubing routed horizontally, vertically or at any angle, over short or long distances, dustfree. Single or multiple inlets and outlets.

FLEXICON Manual Dumping Stations allow dust-free dumping of bulk material from bags and other containers. Automatic reverse-pulse filter cleaning allows continuous, efficient operation. Available with integral bag compactors for total dust containment.

CONDITION

FILL

BLOCK-BUSTER® Bulk Bag Conditioners loosen bulk materials that have solidified during storage and shipment. Variable height turntable positions bag for hydraulic rams with contoured conditioning plates to press bag on all sides at all heights.

SWING-DOWN®, REAR-POST and TWIN-CENTERPOST™ Bulk Bag Fillers can fill one bulk bag per week or 20 per hour at the lowest cost per bag.

Numerous performance options.

Available to industrial or sanitary standards.

CONVEY PNEUMATI-CON® Pneumatic Conveying Systems move a broad range of bulk materials over short or long distances, between single or multiple inlet and discharge points in low to high capacities. Available as dilute-phase vacuum or positive pressure systems, fully integrated with your process.

DUMP TIP-TITE® Container Dumpers dump bulk material from drums (shown), boxes or other containers into vessels up to 10 ft (3 m) high. Dust-tight (shown) or open chute models improve efficiency and safety of an age-old task.

USA sales@flexicon.com 1 888 FLEXICON

UK AUSTRALIA SOUTH AFRICA SPAIN FRANCE GERMANY SINGAPORE INDONESIA MALAYSIA

UNLOAD BULK-OUT® Bulk Bag Dischargers unload free- and non-free-flowing solids from bulk bags automatically. Allow untying, discharging, retying and collapsing of bulk bags—all dust-free.

Available with weigh batching controls.

CONVEY FLEXICON® Flexible Screw Conveyors transport free- and non-freeflowing bulk solid materials from large pellets to sub-micron powders, including products that pack, cake or smear, with no separation of blends, dust-free at low cost. No bearings contact material. Easy to clean quickly, thoroughly.

SUCCEED The FLEXICON® Lifetime Performance Guarantee* assures you of a successful result, whether you purchase one piece of equipment or an engineered, automated plant-wide system.

From initial testing in large-scale laboratories, to single-source project management, to after-sale support by a worldwide network of factory experts, you can trust your process— and your reputation— to Flexicon.

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©2023 Flexicon Corporation. Flexicon Corporation has registrations and pending applications for the trademark FLEXICON throughout the world. *See full Lifetime Performance Guarantee for details.

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Automating Deli Processing from Start to Finish For high volume deli products, our fully automated One Line concept provides all the capacity and productivity you need in a relatively small footprint. It starts with our OptiSlicer which seamlessly connects to a scanner, loader and thermoformer.

Designed to provide high levels of hygiene, the complete GEA line is easy to clean and maintain.

Our One Line concept adapts to each type of deli product processed, so each and every result is optimized. Contact us to learn more.

GEA North America gea.com/unitedstates sales.northamerica@gea.com

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11/9/23 15:37

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magnetics.com 11/9/23 16:15

DECEMBER 2023

CONTENTS 34

50 24

DEPARTMENTS 6 From the Editor

Get Recognized for Your Hard Work and Bright Ideas

9 In the News

Alternative Protein Sector Looks Healthy Back to Basics: Know Your Drains Dairy Report Emphasizes Innovation and Collaboration

19 Packaging Technology

Chemical Recycling Closes the Loop for Arla’s Cheese Maturing Bags Tyson Launches RecycleReady Film Pack Coffee Grounds Provide Bioplastic Alternative

45 Plant Floor Products 50 Case Study: Intelligent Foods

Robots Help Meal Kit Company Keep Pace

55 Tech Perspective

Faster Food Safety Results From Farm to Final Product

ON THE COVER Prestage Foods Streamlines Processing Through Automation The company’s new air-chilled turkey plant is the largest of its kind in the Western Hemisphere, featuring highly automated efficiencies while reducing labor by more than half.

FEATURES 16 OpX Intel: Investment Pays Off When Developing Labor Skills To succeed in the competition to hire and retain the most engaged employees, you must invest in their training. An easy-to-use leadership skills development app for that is coming soon.

34 Tech Today: Fast-Changing Consumer Tastes Drive Trends in Mixing Equipment

Speed, customization, resource-saving features, and versatility to handle a broader range of additives are just some areas advancing today’s mixing and blending equipment.

LIQUID PROCESSING SOLUTIONS 40 Case Study: Texas’s Oldest Craft Brewer Finds New Ways to Manage Aluminum Can Waste As demand for Saint Arnold’s beer grew, so did the need for sustainable solutions to manage excess waste. The Weima E.200 Drainage Press provided an easy way to dispose of underfilled or damaged cans.

42 New Products

www.profoodworld.com | December 2023 | PROFOOD WORLD

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ProFood World ISSN 2476-0676

CONTENT

CONNECT WITH US

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF AARON HAND 312/488-3392 ahand@pmmimediagroup.com

@ProFoodWorld

SENIOR EDITOR MICHAEL COSTA mcosta@pmmimediagroup.com

www.linkedin.com/ showcase/profoodworld

NEW PRODUCTS EDITOR MORGAN SMITH msmith@pmmimediagroup.com

@ProFoodWorld

@ProFoodWorld

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS JEANNE SCHWEDER, STEPHEN PERRY, STEPHEN SCHLEGEL ART DIRECTOR KATHY TRAVIS CREATIVE DIRECTOR DAVID BACHO

ADVE R TI S I N G VICE PRESIDENT, SALES JOHN SCHREI jschrei@pmmimediagroup.com • 248/613-8672 PUBLISHER PATRICK YOUNG pyoung@pmmimediagroup.com • 610/251-2579 ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE BRIAN J. GRONOWSKI bgronowski@pmmimediagroup.com • 440/564-5920 SENIOR MANAGER, PRINT OPERATIONS LARA KRIEGER lkrieger@pmmimediagroup.com FINANCIAL SERVICES MANAGER JANET FABIANO jfabiano@pmmimediagroup.com

PMMI MEDIA GROUP PRESIDENT DAVID NEWCORN VICE PRESIDENT, DIGITAL ELIZABETH KACHORIS SENIOR DIRECTOR, CLIENT SUCCESS & MEDIA OPERATIONS KELLY GREEBY DIRECTOR, DIGITAL MEDIA JEN KREPELKA SENIOR DIRECTOR, EVENTS TREY SMITH DIRECTOR, MARKETING SHARON TAYLOR FOUNDING PARTNER AND EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, INDUSTRY OUTREACH, PMMI JOSEPH ANGEL FOUNDING PARTNER LLOYD FERGUSON

ProFood World • PMMI Media Group 401 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1700, Chicago, IL 60611 Phone: 312/222-1010 • Fax: 312/222-1310 Email: info@pmmimediagroup.com • Web: www.profoodworld.com PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies 12930 Worldgate Drive, Suite 200, Herndon, VA 20170 Phone: 571/612-3200 • Fax: 703/243-8556 • Web: www.pmmi.org Staff at PMMI Media Group can be contacted at info@pmmimediagroup.com.

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FROM THE EDITOR AARON HAND | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Get Recognized for Your Hard Work and Bright Ideas Started up a new plant or expanded food safety? Created a sustainability project to help meet environmental goals? We’d like to hear about it—and tell your peers why you deserve accolades.

I

t’s the start of awards season at ProFood World and time to start working on your submissions. If you’re among the best, you could not only be featured in the magazine, but have an opportunity to present your project to your peers at PACK EXPO International in Chicago next fall.

The Manufacturing Innovation Award (MIA) winner featured this month represents a $150 million investment for a 295,000sq-ft plant that processes upwards of 40,000 turkeys a day. It’s a brand spankin’ new facility that features the latest and greatest in automation, ergonomics, and end-to-end traceability.

Sounds like a dream entry, right? It truly is an impressive sight to see, and Michael Costa has written a really interesting story to take you inside and show you around all the bells and whistles (“Prestage Foods Streamlines Turkey Processing Through Automation,” page 24).

But the fact is that manufacturing innovation comes in all shapes and sizes. It’s not always a new plant. And it doesn’t have to break the bank. Whether greenfield or brownfield, whether a new plant or a line upgrade—take some credit for a job well done.

This is true for our MIAs, but perhaps even more so for our Sustainability Excellence in Manufacturing Awards.

Sometimes sustainability programs are built from the top down, with large, overarching efforts. But other times, it’s that one worker who’s passionate about improving environmental practices, who might not even have an official role in the producer’s sustainability department.

We want to be sure that not only the companies are being recognized for their efforts to operate more sustainably, but the individuals who drive those projects and programs as well.

Tell us what you’re doing in the way of pollution prevention, enhanced environmental protection and stewardship, compliance assurance, or other sustainability efforts.

Everyone has a story to tell. What’s yours? Learn more and get started at pfwgo.to/mia and pfwgo.to/sema.

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

CHRISTINE BENSE CHIEF SUPPLY CHAIN OFFICER Turkey Hill GREG FLICKINGER CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Nobell Foods JOHN HILKER SENIOR VP, OPERATIONS Kite Hill VINCE NASTI VP, OPERATIONS Nation Pizza & Foods JIM PRUNESTI VP, ENGINEERING Conagra Brands LISA RATHBURN VP, ENGINEERING T. Marzetti MARK SHAYE VP, ENGINEERING Ken’s Foods TONY VANDENOEVER CONSULTANT, FOOD MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING Waterfall Ventures DIANE WOLF FORMER VP, ENGINEERING AND OPERATIONS Kraft Foods BROOKE WYNN SENIOR DIRECTOR, SUSTAINABILITY Smithfield Foods

ahand@pmmimediagroup.com 6

PROFOOD WORLD | December 2023 | www.profoodworld.com

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RIBBON/PADDLE/PLOW BLENDERS HANDLE POWDERS TO PASTES

VEE-CONE BLENDERS SANITIZE ULTRA-FAST, THOROUGHLY

FLUIDIZED BED MIXERS BLEND ULTRA-FAST, GENTLY

Agitators forced through stationary materials impart shear needed to reduce agglomerates and blend pastes and slurries.

Basic industrial units to state-of-the-art sanitary designs with heating/cooling jackets, liquid spray additions, and high-speed choppers/intensifiers.

Capacities from 1 to 1,150 cu ft (.03 to 32 m3).

Smooth internal surfaces free of baffles, shafts and bearings allow unobstructed material flow, plus complete discharge through a gate valve for rapid cleaning or sanitizing of the easy-access interior. Uniform blends are typically achieved in as little as 15 minutes with equal efficiency at fill volumes from 100% to 25% of capacity. Ideal for dry and granular materials.

MUNSON® Fluidized Bed Mixers feature two shafts with paddles that counter-rotate at high speeds to fluidize material, achieving homogeneous blends in 10 seconds to 2 minutes. Low shear forces minimize friction with little or no degradation and insignificant heat generation. Drop-bottom gates provide rapid discharge. Capacities from 0.21 to 283 cu ft (6 L to 8 m3).

WORLD’S FASTEST BLENDING AND CLEAN UP No other bulk solids mixer offers these benefits: n 100% Uniform blending and/or liquid additions in one to 2–1/2 minutes

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n Ultra-gentle tumbling action (versus blades forced through batch)

n No internal shaft or seals contacting material unlike other rotary mixers

LUMP BREAKERS REDUCE AGGLOMERATES, FRIABLE MATERIALS Remove lumps and agglomerates from bulk foods. Dual rotors with three-point, singlepiece breaking heads rotate with minimum clearance inside a curved, perforated bedscreen. On-size material exits through bedscreen apertures from 1/32 to 2–1/2 in. (0.8 to 63.5 mm) in diameter.

Fits tight spaces between upstream and downstream process equipment.

Fast yet gentle 4-way mixing action: fold/tumble/cut/turn

ROTARY BATCH MIXER

+1-315-797-0090 | USA: 1-800-944-6644 INFO@MUNSONMACHINERY.COM MUNSONMACHINERY.COM

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©2023 Munson Machinery Co., Inc. MUNSON® is a registered trademark of Munson Machinery Co., Inc.

DETAILS & VIDEOS

PIN MILLS REDUCE FRIABLE SOLIDS IN CONTROLLED SIZE RANGES Coarse to fine grinding of friable powders, flakes and granules into controlled particle sizes at high rates per HP/kW. High-speed rotation of the inner disc creates centrifugal force that accelerates bulk material entering the central inlet of the opposing stationary disc through five intermeshing rows of pins. Desired tight particle size distribution obtained by controlling the rotor speed.

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11/9/23 15:41

IN THE

NEWS

Alternative Protein Sector Looks Healthy AARON HAND | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

T

HE ALTERNATIVE PROTEIN market has been one of both unbridled enthusiasm and uncertainty. The news in recent years has been focused on faltering sales and market slumps—certainly compared to the boom of the recent past. But this year’s Horizons report from CRB shows an industry that is not only resilient but growing in maturity, becoming more cognizant of how the business model needs to look.

For the past few years, CRB has called on its corps of subject matter experts to survey and analyze key sectors of the food and beverage industry. Though CRB tackled alternative proteins for its 2021 report, it decided to revisit the topic for its 2023 report. “It was just irresistible for 2023 because that market has changed so much,” says Tony Moses, director of product innovation at CRB. Almost 60% of the more than 150 alternative protein producers that responded this year are manufacturing at commercial scale, up from 25% in 2021. Almost two-thirds of those surveyed have seen an increase in sales volumes since 2021 as well.

The players are becoming more sophisticated and savvy, and more strategic with their budgets. In 2021, the business drivers were strongly leaned toward sustainability. Although sustainability remains important, “now the picture is more complicated and nuanced,” Moses says.

The top six influences run neck and neck—including inflation pressures/ costs, labor availability/expectations, sustainability, changing product demand, supply chain constraints, and achieving price parity with traditional proteins. Moses points to this list of drivers as a sign of maturity in the market.

Plant-based meats still optimistic There are plenty of sad stories in the press about the demise of the plantbased meat category—big names like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods struggling in the marketplace. “Our data is telling us, though, that the underlying story is a little bit more optimistic,” Moses says. Commercial sales distribution shows progress. “Roughly 50% of products in the pipeline are at some kind of significant commercial sales level, and that’s a large increase compared to what we saw in 2021.”

An additional 21% of products are in test markets, Moses points out, which is also encouraging. “They’re out there getting market data, figuring out what works and what doesn’t in real time, which I think is really powerful,” he says. “What we were seeing before was 50% had no commercial sales. Now we’re seeing only 25% have no commercial sales, and we’ve got 75% now out in the marketplace.”

Another healthy sign for the sector has been its ability to reduce the cost of the products—dropping from an average $3.52/lb in 2021 to $3.32/lb in 2023. “This is likely not where we want to see it; I would think we’d want to see that at $2/lb or lower,” Moses concedes. “But in the last two years, we’ve seen almost a 10% reduction in the cost to produce these products.”

Heineken Mexico Building $460M Brewery in Yucatán Expected to commence operations in 2026, the stateof-the-art brewery will incorporate features for sustainable brewing, with a focus on improved water processes and the integration of circular economy practices.

Diageo Names Sally Grimes as CEO, Diageo North America Sally Grimes, former Clif Bar CEO and industry veteran with 25+ years of experience in the food and beverage sector, has taken on the leadership role of Diageo North America.

Smucker Paying $5.6B to Acquire Hostess Brands

Smucker has signed a definitive agreement to buy Hostess Brands for $5.6 billion, adding well-known snacking brands to Smucker’s portfolio and accelerating its focus on convenient food options.

Walmart Building $350M Milk Processing Plant in Georgia Scheduled to open in 2025, the Valdosta, Ga., dairy facility will provide milk throughout Georgia and neighboring states, serving more than 750 Walmart stores and Sam’s Clubs in the region.

www.profoodworld.com | December 2023 | PROFOOD WORLD

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IN THE NEWS

vation in the milk space has peaked, but we think the innovation is actually shifting downstream.”

While milk and yogurt accounted for almost three-fourths of the plant-based dairy market in 2021, they’re accounting for only about half of the market now as the ice cream sector has taken off.

Cultivated meat feels its way to market

The cultivated meat sector is maturing, as are other alternative proteins, including mycelium-based meats and precision fermentation.

Mycelium looks to production levels When CRB first reported on alternative proteins in 2021, the company was really only looking at plant-based meat, plant-based dairy, and cultivated meat. Since then, precision fermentation and mycelium-based proteins have really emerged.

“What we hadn’t anticipated in this survey was how rapidly the mycelium-based market has advanced,” Moses says, pointing to survey results showing an average targeted bioreactor size of 25,400 L by 2027. “For reference, we consider about 20,000 L or less to be more of a pilot size.

To take it up to production levels, we like to see our clients get to 50,000 L or greater. So we’re pushing past that pilot range now.”

It’s particularly interesting to compare that to cultivated meat, which has a targeted average bioreactor size of 8,500 L. “That’s telling us that this [mycelium] industry—even though it’s been kind of quiet and certainly not gotten the headlines that cultivated meat has from a technical standpoint—it’s really pushed out in front of that industry.”

Plant-based dairy settles in Plant-based dairy is perhaps the most mature sector in this space and has continued to grow. Almond milk has dominated, with other activities primarily from soy, coconut, oats, pea protein, and cashews.

“One of the first interesting findings was that the innovation in this space is shifting,” Moses says. “When we did this in 2021, the whole world was just buzzing with what’s going to be the next plant-based milk type.”

By 2023, things hadn’t changed much. “There hasn’t been any really new ingredient that’s burst on the scene,” Moses says. “I had argued that the inno10

The cultivated meat sector is showing some maturity as well. “We knew that there were challenges in the funding and venture capital with this sector, but we weren’t sure how this would ripple through the industry,” Moses says. “In general, what we’re seeing is that companies are being more judicious with their capital spending, but they’re not going out of business.”

The first positive sign comes from two questions asked separately: 1) How much time do you think it will be until you have regulatory approval? 2) How much time until your first sales? The results of the two questions look very similar. “Companies are looking to get that regulatory approval and then have the product on the market,” Moses says.

About three-fourths of respondents anticipate having product to market and regulatory approval in two years or less. That might be on the optimistic side, however. As noted earlier, the average bioreactor target volume through 2027 is 8,500 L, what CRB considers a pilot volume. Only 2% of respondents expect to reach 50,000 L within that timeframe. “This is telling us that the majority of these companies are being conservative with their infrastructure investments,” Moses says. “They know they need to make them. They know they need to get product out there on the market. But they’re going for smaller sizes.”

Precision fermentation surges ahead With this being the first year CRB included precision fermentation in its report, there was some excitement about what they would find. “There was a huge growth rate in precision fermentation in the media, so we were anticipating this to be big and real,” Moses says. “It is bigger and realer than we originally thought, but it still looks like they’re struggling with their commercial model.”

For one, the large majority of respondents expect their products to be sold at a premium—an average of 18% above traditional products. A question about top business influences, however, puts price parity at the top. “This tells me that their cost of producing is still way too high,” Moses says. “So they are developing a premium product at the same time that they’re trying to significantly reduce costs.”

CRB www.crbgroup.com

PROFOOD WORLD | December 2023 | www.profoodworld.com

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Back to Basics: Know Your Drains MICHAEL COSTA |

I

SENIOR EDITOR chickens, glasses, shoes, shirts, and underwear?

I’ve seen it all, and I’m sure you have, too,” says Kristjansson. “At a recent presentation, we asked attendees what their biggest issue was, and they said [employees] are the biggest issue. It’s people going to work every day and not doing what they’re supposed to do [around drains].”

Drain definitions Kristjansson says there are three main types of drains used in food processing facilities: trench, slotted, and area drains. Trench drains are true to their name as long, linear channels with a heavy grate cover, and are the widest of the three.

Slotted drains are also linear but slimmer than trench drains and don’t require a grate, so they’re easier to clean and have less surface to potentially harbor bacteria. Area drains are smaller square or circular drains that require floor slopes—usually 1% to 2% graded—surrounding the drain to guide liquids into the pipes.

“Area drains work really well in smaller rooms,” Kristjansson says. “You can put them all over your plant if you like, but that can create a different set of problems.” They require a complex underground infrastructure and floor slopes on the surface.

“Slot drains are ideal for high traffic and stand s

T’S EASY TO OVERLOOK the importance of properly functioning facility drains. After all, they’re in the floor, walked over daily, and not at eye level where most manufacturing work takes place. However, if drains back up or break, they’ll command everyone’s attention, stopping production and costing thousands of dollars to repair or replace.

At the recent PACK EXPO Las Vegas, Viking Kristjansson, vice president of sales at Global Drain Technologies, offered advice for matching the right drain to specific processing and cleaning operations, and also detailed how robots and UV cleaning will impact drains in the future.

“If you don’t think about drains when designing facilities, you could later be dealing with failed audits, plant shutdowns, and possibly people getting hurt,” Kristjansson says. “You need to look at which drains fit the right spaces when designing a facility, and not just put area drains everywhere, for example, because they’re easy to specify on CAD and Revit files. A well-placed drain is easily cleanable, won’t fall apart, and people can’t tamper with it.”

Speaking of people, Kristjansson says poor employee training and oversight regarding drains can pose a consistent risk to an operation.

“Does anyone have staff that puts things down the drain that they shouldn’t, like whole

Understanding specific drain needs in a processing plant can save money, labor, and help futureproof a facility for advanced technology, says Viking Kristjansson from FoodSafe Drains.

PHOTO BY MICHAEL COSTA

www.profoodworld.com | December 2023 |

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IN THE NEWS

up to a lot of cleaning, and can be cleaned all day, safely,” he continues. “Trench drains are great if you want to collect solids, like feathers or debris from animals, or if you’re dumping kettles. You don’t want to dump a kettle into an area or slot drain because it will splash. Understanding where to use a trench drain is important. You have to look at the whole facility and understand what works best, and why it works in certain places.”

No matter which drain is chosen, sanitation should be a top priority, even if the upfront costs are higher for materials like stainless steel, Kristjansson adds. “It has to be a food-safe design, and cleaned easily, quickly, effectively, and safely,” he says. “Many plants have a cleaning crew that come in the evening, and they used to get eight hours, then they got six hours, and now they get two hours to do their job. The faster you can clean drains effectively, the better it is for your company.”

Drains for processing The evolution of facility drains, according to Kristjansson, starts with concrete drains. “In the early days, concrete trench drains were all we saw. Then it became modular trench drains. Then, the industry looked for an alternative to trench drains because they can be difficult to clean properly. So, the focus was putting area drains everywhere, which created a whole other set of issues with complex floor slopes and underground connections. Instead of one or two trench drains in a facility, now you’ve got 20 area drains with 20 underground connections, and 20 P-traps that can be a nightmare to maintain,” he says.

Kristjansson relayed a story about a client that was a CPG waffle maker in a new facility that had several area drains and an uneven surface due to multiple floor slopes throughout the production room. “Everything there had area drains and complex floor slopes. So when they tried to install their waffle maker, it didn’t fit,” he explains. “None of the legs [on the machine] could fit evenly on the floor, so they spent a lot of time adjusting the legs for different heights to accommodate the slopes. When they finally got the machine installed and working, employees had to roll totes of waffle batter up to the machine. Staff went up and down slopes with these totes, waffle batter was spilling everywhere, and people were slipping and falling in waffle batter, so it was a safety problem as well.”

One solution where there are too many area drains is to install slotted drains because they require fewer floor slopes and are easier to clean than trench drains, Kristjansson says. He adds that it doesn’t mean putting slot drains every12

where, it means every room should be assessed before installing a specific type of drain to handle the type of work done in those rooms.

Load ratings Another potentially overlooked element regarding drains is the load rating for weight, especially in rooms with consistent forklift and heavy foot traffic. “If a drain can’t handle the load ratings, the drains will flex and pull away from the concrete and your floor, and you’ll have a much bigger problem than if it was designed effectively in the first place,” Kristjansson explains. Drains that have pulled away from floors also have more cracks and spaces for bacteria to harbor and grow.

“Beyond that,” says Kristjansson, “stainless steel has a nanoscale oxygen layer on it that prevents anything from sticking to it. So, when a floor coating is put on, it adheres to the concrete but it doesn’t adhere to the stainless [drains].

If that nanoscale oxygen layer isn’t removed beforehand, it’s never going to stick, and that becomes a big issue for floor coatings.”

Floors of the future Kristjansson forecast two areas—mobile robotics and advanced sanitation—that will have a direct impact on facility drains in the future.

“We’re working with a plant that is all robots,” Kristjansson says. “For some reason, the robots they’re using can’t drive over any floor that has more than a 1% slope. You’re probably not going to find a concrete professional that can pour a 1% slope accurately across an entire floor every time, and your minimum floor slope should really be 2%. We’re working with a company right now that might have to do flat floors everywhere except just around their slotted drains because of their robots in house. So keep this in mind if you’re counting on robots in your facility.”

Advanced sanitation is another area evolving for drains, and Kristjansson says it’s the result of companies taking extra precautions to eliminate bacteria in and around drains that a standard cleaning process might miss.

“UV cleaning [for drains] is a new technology and there are several companies working on this,” says Kristjansson. “This doesn’t mean an employee walks through with a UV light and waves it over the chicken bones on the drains, but it’s the last step taken after a thorough cleaning process. So, after you clear and clean your drains, you can use UV light to make sure you neutralize any bacteria that’s left.”

FoodSafe Drains www.foodsafedrains.com

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A 11/9/23 15:44

IN THE NEWS

PMMI’s Dairy Report Emphasizes Innovation and Collaboration

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ESPITE ONGOING CHALLENGES such as a downturn in fluid milk consumption, the rise of plant-based alternatives, persistent inflation, fluctuating supply chain costs, and ephemeral consumer preferences, the future remains bright for dairy producers open to innovation and collaboration, according to the 2023 Dairy Industry Report: Innovation, Adaptation, Transformation, produced by PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies.

New products, innovative formats, and increased avenues for consumer connections are helping dairy producers reach further into dairy markets

and excite new demographics of dairy consumers.

Advancements in processing and packaging technology are enabling dairy companies to keep up with changing consumer preferences by introducing new products and new formats without the need for constant, costly investment.

Expanding partnerships and collaboration efforts are uniting stakeholders across the dairy industry in a shared goal of driving their products and markets to new heights.

Based on the PMMI report findings, dairy processors need to stay on top of key trends driving growth in this market. Factors such as packaging innovation and new formats, technology adaptation and automation, machinery versatility and throughput, sanitation improvements, and OEM services are critical to success in this sector. The report emphasizes the need for dairy companies to differentiate themselves through product and packaging innovations that speak to their consumers’ preferences and lifestyles.

Download the free executive summary or buy the full report at www.pmmi.org/report/2023dairy-industry-report.

Registration Is Open for PACK EXPO East 2024

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TTENDEE REGISTRATION for PACK EXPO East 2024 (March 18-20; Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia) is officially open, according to the show producer, PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies.

Now in its sixth edition, the three-day event comes on the heels of a successful PACK EXPO Las Vegas, the largest packaging and processing trade show in North America this year. PACK EXPO East returns to Philadelphia after a recordbreaking 2021 that featured its largest show floor to date. The 2024 event has expanded to an additional hall to accommodate the increasing number of solutions on display.

Its Northeast location provides a convenient and rewarding opportunity for consumer packaged goods (CPG) and life sciences companies to explore packaging and processing technologies designed for 40+ vertical markets, connect with

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suppliers, and find the solutions needed to adapt and compete in a changing marketplace.

With 400 exhibitors, attendees gain the best of both worlds—the ability to see a comprehensive range of packaging and processing technologies while still having time for productive, in-depth discussions with vendors to solve pain points and address challenges.

“PACK EXPO East will be one of the most comprehensive shows on the East Coast in 2024 with solutions available for a variety of markets,” says Laura Thompson, vice president of trade shows at PMMI. “We have a prime location that is easily accessible from throughout the Northeast and an easy-to-navigate show floor that allows quality time for discussions and finding innovations that meet your business needs.”

PROFOOD WORLD | December 2023 | www.profoodworld.com

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11/16/23 13:22

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OPX INTEL EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT DAN SILEO | PARTNER, CHIEF MANUFACTURING COACH, FSO INSTITUTE JOYCE FASSL | COMMUNICATIONS/TECHNICAL WRITER, FSO INSTITUTE

Investment Pays Off When Developing Labor Skills To succeed in the competition to hire and retain the most engaged employees, you must invest in their training. An easy-to-use leadership skills development app for that is coming soon.

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O YOU SOMETIMES WONDER why your newly promoted supervisors are not nearly as successful as they were in their prior positions? It’s typically because technicians or operators are promoted to higher-level roles with little training or preparation for their new jobs. Many times, consumer product goods (CPG) manufacturers promote competent, hourly, shop floor staff to salaried supervisor or team lead positions. The promoted workers often struggle with their new roles because they are not fully prepared. No one has ever taught them leadership, servant leadership, or employee engagement skills.

The FSO Institute is putting the final touches on a new app to address staffing challenges like these and help CPGs train their employees on skill characteristics included in PMMI’s OpX Leadership

Process Flow for Leadership Development App Yes Company selects characteristic and assigns Mentor

3 examples submitted to Mentor

Survey conducted

No

3 way match

Network’s Workforce Engagement Model. The FSO Leadership Development App accelerates the effectiveness of newly appointed supervisors and targets plant operations and mid-level staff by validating their skills and qualifying them for numerous attributes contained in the app that can be chosen by leadership. For example, skills include accountability, decision-making, taking action, systematic thinking, and adaptability.

The new app is designed to be used by supervisors or first-level plant management but could also be applicable to higher- or lower-level jobs. It is targeted at small to mid-size companies that need assistance in training employees to succeed at the first and second levels of manufacturing management positions.

Supervisors or first-level managers are busy on the plant floor and often do not have time to spend on training. The app provides a simple and easy way for newly promoted employees to interact with a mentor. App users get qualified on leadership improvement activities approved by a mentor, who can coach them in the right direction and Introductory course, other help them apply their skills. courses & mentoring

Accepted

Yes QUALIFIED

The app’s process flow shows the path of how a trainee becomes qualified in a certain skill.

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Increase skills and plant floor efficiency CPGs should select five to six skill characteristics that are critical for leadership roles in their current environment. They can select these from 47 characteristics in the OpX Workforce Engagement Model.

CPGs then determine mentors for each of those characteristics.

The app lets mentors know they

PROFOOD WORLD | December 2023 | www.profoodworld.com

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POOR EXAMPLE

GOOD EXAMPLE

The loading dock was a mess. Nobody seemed to know anything, and nobody was taking any leadership or felt accountable to get any work done.

now have a trainee working with them. Then, a survey is conducted with the trainee. Each chosen skill characteristic has three questions associated with it. The trainee then takes a survey on the app with questions such as “Does the trainee perform a job function: hardly ever, sometimes, or most of the time?” That result automatically goes to the mentor.

The trainee also selects a peer subordinate, and all three of them—trainee, mentor, and peer—take the same survey about the trainee. If there’s a three-way match concluding that the trainee performs the skill most of the time, they are considered qualified for that skill.

If the trainee is not qualified for the skill, the FSO app includes an introductory course for each of the 47 skill characteristics. CPGs also have the option to put their own courses in the app.

If the trainee is unsure how to proceed with a certain skill, they can work with their mentor. In addition, the trainee is asked to write three examples to show proficiency in the assigned skill. Providing three examples of proficiency helps the trainee reinforce the skill. Mentors then approve the three skill examples or reject those that need more work.

To help trainees, the app provides examples of good and poor submissions. Once all three trainee examples are accepted by the mentor, the trainee becomes qualified in that skill characteristic. For example, if the CPG decides that a trainee must be qualified in five skill characteristics, the trainee must submit 15 examples of where they have excelled.

The app delivers reminders to keep trainees on track timewise, but each CPG can determine its own timing and customized reminder messages. CPGs can expect to see first-level managers become savvy in leading shop floor employees and helping them to become more engaged. When employees are engaged, plant floor production is streamlined.

The app also encourages personal interaction.

It is a great way to attract Millennials to food manufacturing careers. While Millennials love to use apps, CPGs also need to ensure they are talking to coworkers and developing those relationships.

s

What was the situation?

We were constantly behind on the loading dock. Our people were frustrated, loads were completed out of order, and our demurrage costs were through the roof. The team lead was new to the role and had no turnover with the old lead.

Trainees using the app are asked to submit examples to mentors on how they can become more engaged employees.

The app is designed to help frontline supervisors get the skills they need to empower plant floor operators. The easy-to-use app promotes repetitive learning that will stay with the employees while also facilitating supervisor interaction with a mentor. Users may access the app on a phone, tablet, workstation, or computer.

Developing muscle memory A baseball player doesn’t swing a bat for the first time when he’s playing in a game. He’s done it thousands of times before and developed muscle memory. All he must think about to be successful is making slight modifications to his swing. The FSO app encourages the same type of learning.

As app users successfully pass assigned skill characteristics, they bring those enhanced skills to their jobs and should be able to apply them in various production situations.

Making the right investment in employee engagement is one of the most critical decisions you can make to ensure employee retainment and operational excellence.

ABOUT THE OPX INTEL SERIES OF ARTICLES PMMI’s OpX Leadership Network has produced more than 20 manufacturing process-improvement documents for CPGs and OEMs. The FSO Institute has facilitated the adoption and implementation of these documents, especially for food and beverage manufacturers. This series of articles shows how CPGs are using OpX and FSO documents to improve their overall manufacturing health and collaboration with OEMs and other suppliers. Learn more at www.opxleadershipnetwork.org and www.fsoinstitute.com. ™

www.profoodworld.com | December 2023 | PROFOOD WORLD

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PACKAGING TECHNOLOGY ANNE MARIE MOHAN |

SENIOR EDITOR, PACKAGING WORLD

Chemical Recycling Closes the Loop for Arla’s Cheese Maturing Bags A pilot conducted by Arla Foods results in a circular packaging for the cheese maturing bags used by the dairy foods company.

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EEPING PLASTIC IN THE LOOP is the goal of a new pilot undertaken by international dairy foods company Arla Foods and film producer Südpack whereby a portion of the cheese maturing bags used in Arla’s cheese production process is being chemically recycled and made into new packaging. The pilot relies on Recenso’s Carboliq chemical recycling process, which is being done at an industrial-scale pilot facility in Ennigerloh, Germany, jointly operated by Südpack, Clean Cycle Investments, and Recenso’s subsidiary, which also goes by the name Carboliq.

Cheese maturation is a process that develops the flavor and texture of cheese over time. At its Rødkaersbro dairy in Denmark, Arla matures its mozzarella cheese by placing it in specially designed maturing bags for about two weeks. The plastic bags are made of multiple film layers that act as a barrier to oxygen, preventing the formation of mildew and the emergence of pathogens and harmful microflora. Because of its multilayer construction, the bags cannot be recycled through mechanical means. Instead, the 220 metric tons of maturing film used by Arla each year are incinerated.

For the pilot, Arla is sending 80 metric tons per year—the volume that can currently be accommodated by the Carboliq pilot facility—to Ennigerloh, where it undergoes a proprietary one-stage conversion process that liquefies solid hydrocarbons, resulting in Carboliq’s Circular Liquid Resource (CLR), a high-yield oil that can be used to manufacture new high-end polymers. According to Carboliq, its process is characterized by the application of thermal, catalytic, and physical forces for cracking hydrocarbon and by its ability to use a wide range of mixed-waste plastic or agricultural waste biomass as feedstock.

Arla Foods is finding a new use for its maturing film previously sent to incineration and is closing the loop by applying the recycled material into new food packaging.

Though 1 metric ton of mixed plastic waste does not equal 1 metric ton of new packaging, “it does reduce the need for fossil feedstock, and it paves the way for increased investing in this infrastructure moving forward,” says Dirk Hardow, business unit manager for functional films and compounds at Südpack.

Furthermore, reports Südpack, factoring in the loss of electricity and thermal energy that incineration delivers, and the negative impact of transporting the films from Denmark to Germany, the calculation behind the test still comes out in favor of chemical recycling when it comes to overall carbon emissions. Per metric ton of plastic waste, the full processing, including the chemical recycling process, emits up to 50% fewer greenhouse gases than sending the maturing film to incineration.

The pilot began in 2021. Upon conclusion of the pilot, Südpack and Arla will evaluate and plan the next steps. www.profoodworld.com | December 2023 | PROFOOD WORLD

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PACKAGING TECHNOLOGY

Tyson Launches Recycle-Ready Film Pack for Egg Bites, Frittatas

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OLLOWING ON THE HEELS of a successful collaboration with Amcor on its Instant Pot Meal Kits in 2022, Tyson Foods has introduced another new mono-material flexible film package— this one for its Jimmy Dean egg bites and frittatas—that allows for store drop-off recycling while providing functionality comparable to the multilayer, multi-laminate format it replaces.

Tyson’s Instant Pot packaging uses Amcor’s AmPrima PE Plus Recycle Ready Pouch, made from a proprietary polyethylene film that Amcor says delivers high levels of clarity, stiffness, and heat and abuse resistance while also being recyclable. In addition, it says that PE Plus does not compromise filling performance, graphics or printing, or barrier properties. The new vacuum packaging for the Jimmy Dean breakfast products also uses AmPrima PE Plus, but in a forming/non-forming film application.

In its quest to design more sustainable packaging for its products, Tyson Foods is focusing on specific packaging formats and specification requirements, according to Jeff Czarny, Tyson’s senior director of packaging. “The packaging format used for these products is widely utilized across the Jimmy Dean product portfolio as well as other brands at Tyson,” he says. “In working with Amcor, our goal has been to develop packaging technologies that can potentially be scaled across a wide variety of products and can help support Tyson Foods’ work towards the company’s sustainability goals.”

The original packaging for the egg bites and frittatas was constructed of a polyamide-based forming web and an EZ-peel laminated non-forming film with an oriented PET outer layer. The polyamide provided formability and toughness, while the OPET layer offered heat resistance and stiffness. With the new packaging, Tyson wanted a film construction that would qualify for store drop-off recycling per the APR Critical Guidance test protocol for PE films, while performing at parity to conventional films on its existing packaging equipment, matching current speed and waste requirements.

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Development and testing of the new film was conducted by Tyson at the packaging innovation lab and pilot plant in its Downers Grove, Ill., Discovery Center. “Engineers at this facility conducted extensive integrity testing to optimize the final package design and performance,” Czarny explains. “In addition, we leveraged the packaging testing capabilities of our strategic packaging suppliers to evaluate package integrity.”

Per data from Amcor’s Asset lifecycle assessment tool, when compared with conventional multi-material film constructions, Amcor’s AmPrima recycle-ready forming/non-forming film offers a 30% reduction in non-renewable primary energy demands, a 29% reduction in carbon footprint, and a 42% reduction in water consumption, when sent to landfill. When it’s recycled through store dropoff or curbside (where available) systems, the film reduces non-renewable primary energy demands by 80%, reduces the carbon footprint by 70%, and reduces water consumption by 68%.

The secondary cartons for Jimmy Dean’s egg bites and frittatas carry the How2Recycle label, which instructs consumers on how to recycle the components of the package.

—Anne Marie Mohan, Packaging World

PHOTO COURTESY OF TYSON FOODS

The new packaging for Tyson’s Jimmy Dean egg bites and frittatas qualifies for store dropoff recycling while performing at parity with conventional multilayer films.

PROFOOD WORLD | December 2023 | www.profoodworld.com

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PACKAGING TECHNOLOGY

Spent Coffee Grounds Could Provide Bioplastic Alternative

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OFFEE, THE WORLD’S SECOND MOST traded commodity after oil, generates over 2 billion cups daily, resulting in more than 8 million tons of spent coffee grounds annually, mostly ending up in landfills. However, a recent study published on Psy.org reveals a potential use for those grounds, transforming them into biodegradable films that might one day replace plastics.

This has been demonstrated by Srinivas Janaswamy, an associate professor at South Dakota State University. His research focuses on creating biodegradable alternatives to plastics using agricultural byproducts. Previous projects

involved materials like avocado peels and corn stover, but spent coffee grounds were chosen this time for several reasons.

First, they are widely available, with millions of tons produced annually, but most end up in landfills or are used inefficiently. Second, the rise of chain coffee shops in emerging economies will increase the volume of spent coffee grounds.

Finally, these grounds contain lignocellulosic fibers, essential for making biodegradable films.

The process involves extracting lignocellulosic fibers from the coffee grounds and then subjecting them to a green chemical modification process to enhance their suitability for packaging. The resulting films biodegrade within 45 days in soil and possess high tensile strength. Moreover, they exhibit the unique properties of blocking UV radiation and displaying antioxidant qualities.

—Sean Riley, PMMI Media Group

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MANUFACTURING INNOVATION MICHAEL COSTA | SENIOR EDITOR

Prestage Foods S

Turkey Processing T

The company’s new air-chilled turkey plant is the largest of its kind in the Western Hemisphere, featuring highly automated efficiencies while reducing labor by more than half.

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HE PROCESSING INDUSTRY’S ongoing labor shortage has prompted many companies to take a long view to plant expansions and greenfield projects. It’s a perspective that takes into consideration a workforce shortage that will likely never resolve, so planning projects with automation at the forefront has become foundational.

The meat industry in particular has a tougher time staffing than other food sectors, so when turkey processor Prestage Foods planned its 295,000-sq-ft greenfield facility in Camden,

S.C., it invested heavily in automation as a permanent operating template rather than as a stopgap until the labor market recovers. Consequently, Prestage has been able to staff the Camden plant with just over 300 people, compared to more than 750 workers needed without automation. Also, because that automated equipment performs so efficiently, Prestage employees enjoy a four-day, 10-hour work week—a first for the industry.

“We automated as much as possible,” says Zach Prestage, CEO at Prestage Foods of South Carolina. “The big additions are all the deboning and evisceration equipment.

There’s a lot of really tough jobs that were eliminated because of the equipment available today. Those jobs are hard and they take a lot of people to execute without automation.”

In addition to the labor savings— projected to be $22 million annually— and increased food safety that comes from adopting advanced automation, Prestage also invested in a water-conserving, European-style air chilling model to prepare birds for secondary processing (compared to water baths for cooling carcasses) that is more common in the chicken industry but less prevalent in the turkey industry, and certainly rare in North America. As PHOTO COURTESY OF GRAY a result, Prestage’s Camden plant is the Prestage Foods’ new 295,000-sq-ft processing facility features largest air-chilled turkey processing complete separation of primary and secondary processing areas, facility in the Western Hemisphere. and advanced automation that allows staff to work single-shift, For these reasons and more, 10-hour, four-day workweeks—a first for the industry.

ProFood World awarded Prestage

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s Streamlines

g Through Automation

PHOTO COURTESY OF GRAY

After primary processing, turkeys are moved into air-chilling chambers to cool overnight, emerging the next day at less than 40°F for secondary processing.

Foods a 2023 Manufacturing Innovation Award for its new state-of-the-art turkey processing plant.

Here, we’ll detail the many leading-edge ideas within the facility, including some that are being introduced to the North American turkey processing industry for the first time.

Progress for processing Prestage is a family-owned business that was founded in 1983, and operates production facilities in Iowa (pork), North Carolina, and South Carolina (turkeys). The company oversees its own Prestage

Farms and Prestage Premium brands, and processes meat under Prestage Foods for in-house retail products, as well as numerous private label and contract clients. The largest customer for the Camden plant is Kraft Heinz, which will further process turkey products from Prestage for its own retail turkey brands.

A catalyst to build the Camden plant came from a need to better utilize the proximity of its farm for turkey production in nearby Cassatt, S.C. “This [Camden] plant gives us more control of our live operation [in Cassatt] because our volume

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MANUFACTURING INNOVATION

s

By investing heavily in automation, Prestage Foods can operate its new turkey processing plant with about 300 people, compared to 750 workers needed without automated equipment.

PHOTO COURTESY OF GRAY

have without the speed that automation gives us.”

Prior to building the Camden facility, representatives from design/build firm Gray and Prestage Foods visited other poultry plants in the U.S. and Europe to see what automation options existed, and also asked operators which machines were most efficient and effective for them. As a result of those fact-finding missions, most of the Camden plant PHOTO BY AARON HAND was populated with equipment from Marel, including the compaPrestage Foods took a closer look at improving the ergonomics for workstations on the line. One solution was to add adjustable height stands—like the workers ny’s Innova software to track and on the right are using—that can be individually raised to give people the most trace turkeys throughout. Others comfortable position to perform their tasks. chosen for specific processing tasks include Humane Aire, Lyco was taking a hit due to inefficiencies over there,” Manufacturing, Prime Equipment Group, Morris Prestage says. “So, we built this facility to mainChillers, Lewis Machinery, AD Process Equipment, tain our maximum volume for a live operation that D&F Equipment, and Carlisle Technology. we’ve had since 1994.”

“We didn’t go with the original [equipment] Construction on the Camden plant was compackage that we thought we would at the start,” pleted last year and opened for business in remembers Prestage. “We changed our mind December. When running at full capacity, 48,000 completely in the end and went with the best turkeys can be processed daily (about 2.5 milpackage for what we wanted to accomplish at this lion lb), with leeway to process closer to 40,000, plant.” The combined Marel equipment throughallowing room to address issues that might arise in out the facility reduces the company’s utility conreal time on the line without stopping production. sumption by 20%, he adds.

Breaking the numbers down further, up to 100 Air-chilling advantage turkeys can be processed per minute, and about One of the defining features at Prestage’s plant 5,400 each hour. is its air-chilling system, which is the standard in “We’ll harvest 8 million turkeys for the year,” Europe, where water baths to chill poultry are fornotes Prestage. “We grow 6 million of them bidden due to the added chemicals needed to kill ourselves, and another supplier grows 2 million bacteria, and cross-contamination issues that can turkeys. We couldn’t handle that kind of volume arise when multiple bird carcasses share the same within the four-day single shift labor model we

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Congratulations PRESTAGE FOODS OF SC ON YOUR AWARD FOR MANUFACTURING INNOVATION FROM YOUR FRIENDS AT

1.855.497.7508 info@foodsafedrains.com foodsafedrains.com T R ENCH

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MANUFACTURING INNOVATION

s

A key automation feature in primary processing at Prestage Foods has eliminated the need to lift heavy turkeys onto shackles.

The new equipment lowers the shackles so line workers only need to place the feet into shackles.

pool. The Camden plant is the first in the Western Hemisphere to use an industrial-scale air-chilling model for turkeys, and saves Prestage 95% in water usage as a result.

“In a water bath, whatever’s on one carcass is going to be mixed in with all the other carcasses in there,” explains Prestage. “The water is usually not clean, so a lot of plants actually have a lid so you

PHOTO BY AARON HAND

can’t see the water. The way air chilling is laid out, the birds don’t even drip on each other.”

Air chilling allows for each bird to occupy a single shackle as it moves through the facility, sideby-side with other birds. After primary processing, the turkeys chill overnight in one of Prestage’s six air-chilling chambers until the start of secondary processing the next day. The birds emerge at an

Hygienic by Design

S

ANITATION IS A KEY DESIGN ELEMENT running through Prestage Foods’ new turkey plant in Camden, S.C. The primary and secondary processing areas were built to operate separately, with corresponding employee welfare areas serving as a buffer between the two. This eliminates employee cross-traffic (and potential cross-contamination) in those two processing areas, and allows complete sanitation to be performed on one side without having to shut down operations on the other side.

“It’s a very clean layout and design,” explains Zach Prestage, CEO at Prestage Foods of South Carolina.

“You want to do your best to separate your primary side from your secondary side. There’s separation because of the [employee] welfare areas, which are common areas and break areas. We have clear separation amongst all our departments.”

Tim Sandberg, project executive at design/build firm Gray, adds, “When we met with Ron [Prestage, president of Prestage Foods], he said he wanted live harvest to be separated from people and the rest of the plant, and he didn’t want them all taking breaks at the same time. So, there’s designated common areas where employees can go, and they really only come in and out at the same location, which reduces the chance for cross-contamination.”

The pandemic also played a part in designing the building and how employees would interact with it on a daily basis, Sandberg says. Thoughtful additions include workspaces separated by several feet so staff aren’t working closely together; larger break rooms with extra space for people to spread out; the removal of all major doors for restrooms, replaced by switchbacks; and separate entrance and exit doors installed rather than just a single two-way door, which reduces face-to-face contact among workers moving through the plant.

Just outside the facility, a separate parking lot was created for clean cages and trucks, away from the intake area where live turkeys are offloaded. “Most people think cross-contamination only happens inside the plant because everything is vertically integrated,” says George Lehnerer, business unit leader, food and beverage at Gray. “The trucks are a point of cross-contamination. So, [after unloading], the empty cages come off and get washed, the truck moves forward and gets washed, and then clean cages are put onto a clean trailer in a separate parking lot, and that goes back out to the farm. It’s a whole other way of thinking in the way we added this intervention step to capture the farm side of cross-contamination.”

Food safety is also prevalent for end-of-line tasks at the plant. All turkey products go through metal detection, and all boneless turkey products also go through X-ray to catch any contaminants before being sent to customers for retail sale or further processing.

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CONGRATULATIONS TO PRESTAGE FARMS! WINNER OF THE 2023 MANUFACTURING INNOVATION AWARD

PROVIDING FOOD PROCESSING FACILITY PLANNING & DESIGN FOR OVER 35 YEARS:

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MANUFACTURING INNOVATION

ideal 36°F, without absorbing water weight that comes from being in a pool for hours. This added benefit gives Prestage and its customers true meat weight to work with for further processing.

There are 8,000 shackles in each chamber, so production is not contingent on moving all the birds in and out of a single room—they can be moved into secondary processing as the chambers are ready. Because of the space needed to house 48,000 linear shackles, Prestage requires 16 miles of chain to convey turkeys through processing, the longest chain in the industry.

Because the meat hasn’t picked up additional water or additives from being in a bath, air-chilled poultry is considered by many in the industry to be a premium product with superior taste. Also, because the birds come out at less than 40°F, no CO2 is needed to cool the birds down like those that emerge from a water bath, according to Prestage. This is a particularly timely benefit due to the current widespread CO2 shortage.

“Using a water bath might mean the turkeys are deboned or cut up warm. It takes a lot of CO2 or nitrogen to get those birds cooled below 40 within eight hours. If we used water baths, the volume of turkeys we process would require 25

truckloads of CO2 a week,” Prestage says. “On top of that, meat just debones better when it’s cold, just like fish that’s been on ice.”

Traceability of individual birds and flocks is another air-chilling advantage, since each shackle can be tracked all the way through the plant. “If you dumped all those birds into a big pool, you could never say a specific turkey went in it at a certain time—it’s impossible,” says George Lehnerer, business unit leader, food and beverage at Gray. “Even in clear water, you wouldn’t be able to identify it. Air chilling offers a lot of advantages in regards to keeping chlorine out of the product, or other additives, as well as traceability.”

As turkeys move out of air chilling, they enter the secondary, deboning phase. This is where automation and the data collection attached to individual shackles offers precise placement on the lines for maximum yield.

“There’s a [turkey] weight identified with each shackle,” Lehnerer says. “When they go to deboning, there’s three lines set for small, medium, and large weights. The Innova system knows the weight of each shackle, and it’ll also know, for that day’s production, for example, we

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PHOTO BY AARON HAND

Live turkeys entering Prestage Foods’ facility go through a CO2 gas stunning chamber before being harvested, which humanely renders them unconscious.

only have 5,000 small birds. So, it’ll move some of the medium birds over to keep the small line full. Depending on the weight distribution that day, they’re not suffocating a single line with one weight, they’re actually pushing birds through all three lines automatically.”

Tim Sandberg, project executive at Gray, adds, “By setting [automated deboning] up with small, medium, and large lines, you get the most amount of yield. There’s only a couple of pounds difference between the small, medium, and large turkeys, but you’ll get all that meat off.”

The Camden plant is a full-harvest facility, which means everything on a turkey is used and processed in some form. Boneless, skinless breast meat is the most valuable, Prestage says, while the plant also processes thighs, wings, drumsticks, turkey necks, giblets, and other cuts for tray pack and specialty products. “We also process for pet food, which is the lowest-end, mechanically separated turkey, but we want our plant to get the highest yield possible out of the main cuts, especially the breast meat,” he says.

Humane harvesting Moving back to the start of primary processing, live turkeys are brought inside the facility via trucks and transport cages that are automatically loaded onto two intake lines. Prestage Foods wanted to implement what they considered the most humane, stress-free method available to harvest the birds—CO2 gas stunning inside a Humane Aire controlled atmosphere stunning (CAS) system—that moves the crates through a long, enclosed chamber specialized for turkeys.

“We use about 0.4 lb of CO2 per head [inside the chamber] and the turkeys just go to sleep,” Prestage explains. “We’re putting them to sleep

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MANUFACTURING INNOVATION

tem, and that becomes a bottleneck for the whole plant. Having two lines makes the whole process more efficient.”

Leading labor

PHOTO BY AARON HAND

Prestage Foods’ new plant can process up to 48,000 turkeys a day and is projected to harvest 8 million turkeys this year.

Most of the production here will go to Kraft Heinz for further processing into turkey retail products.

so the heart keeps beating, and then they’re bled when they’re fully unconscious.”

Having two intake lines for the stunning system is important, he adds. “A lot of [companies] make the mistake of only putting one line on this sys-

As mentioned earlier, the heavy investment in automation at Prestage also has a ripple effect on workforce hours, enabling the industry’s first single-shift, 10-hour, four-day workweek for employees. Primary processing staff work Monday through Thursday, and secondary/ deboning workers are there Tuesday through Friday.

“We all thought about how to create an environment at this plant where people actually want to come and work, and doesn’t have, for example, a 50% turnover rate,” Sandberg says. “What is the process for that? One way is telling someone they can make the same amount of money working four days a week instead of five. Prestage can hire people who don’t want to regularly work overtime, nights, and weekends like at other plants.”

By emphasizing automation for extremely difficult jobs in the harvesting/primary processing area, Prestage invested in ergonomic equipment, allowing employees to work comfortably and efficiently during their shifts. This includes individual height

From One Innovator to Another:

Congratulations Prestage Foods.

Humane Aire is the CAS technology of choice for turkey and broiler processors.

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616.772.0808 | humaneaire.com

11/15/23 08:12

adjustments on platforms along the line, increased space between workers (see “Hygienic by Design,” page 28), and installing machines that do all or most of the work for repetitive jobs like cropping, and live hanging of birds (which can weigh 40 to 50 lb each) onto shackles after gas stunning.

“The shackles are lowered down so workers never need to pick up the bird to hang it by its feet,” Sandberg explains. “There were so many areas like that where we focused on automated solutions to the hardest, most labor-intensive jobs.”

Another difficult task taken over by automation is the transportation of giblets, hearts, and livers after evisceration. Prestage installed a fully automated line using conveyors and vacuums to move those innards to another processing area without staff having to manually move totes of the product, limiting their contact with it.

The employee welfare areas, like break rooms and the central cafeteria, were designed with extra space for staff to relax and recharge before going back to work. The cafeteria was originally developed with a full-service kitchen in mind, but Prestage opted not to install foodservice equipment since staff are only there four days a week, and just three days where all 300 primary and secondary

Marel congratulates Prestage Foods!

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workers are onsite together. However, Prestage kept the overall square footage of the space intact.

“It’s a very nice, wide-open cafeteria,” Lehnerer says. “We see a lot of [Gray’s] customers successfully using self-service vending machines in their cafeteria spaces with a lot more people, so that’s what Prestage has here.” In addition to the vending machines, Prestage also brings in caterers and food trucks on occasion to give workers additional variety for their lunches.

Looking toward the future and possible expansion of operations around the Camden plant, Prestage has right of first refusal on every part of the industrial park surrounding the facility, so that option is available. For now, though, the pluck shown by Prestage to take a chance on a new operating model for the turkey industry that addresses automation and labor in novel ways is poised to pay off for years to come.

“If someone tells us our ideas are not possible, I don’t want them part of the team,” says Ron Prestage, president of Prestage Foods. “There’s nobody in the world that has a plant like this for turkey. It might not have been easy to plan and execute, but we figured it out, and there’s very few things I would have done differently.”

The Prestage Foods facility in Camden,SC, USA, is one of the most advanced turkey processing plants in the world. Marel is proud to be the main equipment supplier of this project that sets new benchmarks in the turkey industry.

Marel congratulates Prestage Foods on winning the prestigious 2023 Manufacturing Innovation Award!

More information: +31 485 586 111 | info.poultry@marel.com marel.com/turkey

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TECH TODAY MIXING AND BLENDING JEANNE SCHWEDER | CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Fast-Changing Consumer Tastes Drive Trends in Mixing Equipment Speed, customization, resource-saving features, and versatility to handle a broader range of additives are just some of the areas advancing today’s mixing and blending equipment.

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HE TASTES AND LIFESTYLES of American consumers continue to change, as do their expectations of food brands. Food is no longer only about nutrition, and choices are now often an expression of personal identity or environmental goals. As processors race to keep up, they require equipment with the capabilities to help them meet these new challenges.

“We are seeing a rise in new product development focused on healthy ingredients, plant-based proteins and functional foods,” says Christine Banaszek, director of sales at Ross Mixers. “Growing competition, the high cost of raw materials, and supply chain uncertainties are also compelling manufacturers to review their existHigh-shear mixers like this one, along with multiagitator systems, hybrid planetary dispersers, and powder induction technologies, are evolving to meet the needs of today’s food manufacturing.

ing mixing operations and switch to more efficient and cost-effective technologies. They are seeking ways to optimize production processes, reduce energy consumption, minimize waste, and maximize personnel.”

Personal tastes are also changing, according to Joby Ferary, vice president of sales for North American Process, the parent company of Infini-Mix. “Consumers are looking for enhanced flavors, more spice in sauces and spreads, and more inclusions and toppings in nut butters and ice creams. This [requires] the capacity to handle a wide range of additives with the same equipment and the ability to switch from recipe to recipe with little waste and short changeovers.”

Luis Roberto Pontes, portfolio manager, processing solutions and equipment channel management and key components at Tetra Pak, points to increased consumer demand for products that promise to negate harmful environmental and climate-changing impacts. “Some people are looking to brands to help them make choices that help to protect our planet. Transparent and meaningful labelling such as zero-waste or net-positive food production and processing across the whole supply chain can help avoid scepticism and accusations of green-washing,” he explains.

“Other people see the effects of climate change unfold and they are choosing to adapt their diets and lifestyles for the planet,” Pontes adds. “Plant-based, natural, seasonal, and synthetic ingredients are on the rise, and some are increasingly interested in the circular economy, which reuses and recycles materials.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF ROSS MIXERS

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Mini mixers and even smaller tabletop versions of mixing and blending equipment help operators save space and resources when testing new recipes in small batches.

How manufacturers are responding How are manufacturers of mixing and blending equipment changing their products to meet these demands? “Speed ranks at or near the top for companies across every industry,” says Rene Medina, executive vice president at the Gericke Group, a provider of powder mixing solutions. “For mixers, this means fast setup before a batch, fast cycle times, and fast cleaning between batches without compromising product quality. For mixing dry materials and ingredients, we’re seeing a shift to dry cleaning, which is reducing the use of CIP [clean in place] with liquid.”

Lee Holliday, director of process at IKA Works, adds, “Food processors are seeking a balance between time, function, quality, and cost. That means the solution should be operator-friendly and generate acceptable results while being cost-effective. It’s appropriate to implement processes that meet cGMP to insure a repeatable result. Methods that ensure full cleanability with minimal downtime and labor are also in demand.”

Holliday says processors are also evaluating technologies that minimize waste and are deemed sustainable and friendly to the environment. “As a result, there seems to be quite a bit of interest in disposable parts for mixing, so cleaning validation is not required. Closed systems that minimize dust and contamination are also highly preferred,” he says.

Ultra-high shear mixers, multi-agitator systems, hybrid planetary dispersers and powder

induction technologies more well-known in other process industries, such as chemical, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics, are being adapted to food manufacturing, according to Banaszek.

“Exploring outside of traditional food processing equipment is going to be part of the evolution,” she says. “Utilizing the latest advancements in PLC-based control systems with recipe software, new-generation mixers will lessen operator errors and batch-to-batch variations, while maximizing yield. Data can be accessed from multiple devices such as smartphones or tablets for practical real-time monitoring, giving operators and managers full visibility into a mixer’s performance and status wherever they are in the plant.”

New process methods Manufacturing methods are also changing to meet processor needs for faster speeds and higher quality, according to Ferary. “Continuous processing and

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process, direct steam injection is used to cook the processed cheese sauce instead of a kettle or a tubular heat exchanger. Injecting the steam into a dynamic mixer and dispersing the steam throughout the sauce is the most efficient use of steam. You utilize 100% of the thermal properties of the steam—nothing is wasted. More importantly, there is no scaling or buildup on the sidewalls, so the process can run continuously for many hours.” This can also be done with a number of prepared foods like soups, sauces, pet foods, starches, and hydrocolloids, he adds.

Automation advances

PHOTO COURTESY OF MUNSON MACHINERY

Food safety, multi-formula capacity, energy costs, and labor savings are all factors driving the evolution of mixing and blending equipment today.

semi-continuous are the technologies of the future.

A typical batch process has an operator pull a sample from a batch and take it to their QA lab to verify a wide range of product specs before the batch can be released to packaging,” he says. “Virtually any type of test you would do in a lab can now be done inline, such as viscosity, conductivity, pH, concentration/brix, and density. This gives manufacturers confidence that they will not make out-of-spec product when converting to continuous. In addition to monitoring the accuracy of a continuous process, highly accurate forms of ingredient metering are making inline mixing solutions more cost-effective and attainable for even small manufacturers.”

Ferary describes how one macaroni and cheese manufacturer applied continuous processing to improve its process and product quality. “[Macaroni and cheese] is typically done in a batch process.

The customer takes a blanched pasta and adds it to a molten processed cheese sauce. Once it is mixed thoroughly, it is sent to packaging,” he explains. “However, if there is any delay in sending the finished product to packaging, the hot cheese sauce will continue to cook the pasta and the pasta becomes mush. The whole tank must be dumped.”

By using a continuous process, the pasta and the sauce are blended as it goes into the package. “This drastically reduces waste,” Ferary says. “In this same

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Automation is a constantly evolving tool for food processors, so “the latest mixer technologies address automation as a solution to labor issues,” Medina explains. “We’re minimizing the potential for operator error and streamlining the overall production process with both our batch mixers and continuous mixing systems. It’s going to be very common for automated lines to run unattended for days with supervision by remote viewing.”

According to Munson Machinery, major factors driving the technologies and trends in mixing, blending, and CIP equipment are food safety, multi-formula capacity, and energy costs.

Manufacturers are building equipment to sanitary standards and providing options to accommodate the range and diversity of new food products. New machines must also be quickly and easily cleaned and sanitized between batches or product runs.

The company predicts that while the basic actions of mixing and blending will remain the same, there will be increased automation and customization of processes to respond to future trends. Automation is expected to help food manufacturers improve the process of loading and discharging the mixer/blender.

One example is a Tetra Pak customer that made a plant-based product with a high level of fat and protein. Some ingredients, like sodium and calcium caseinates, were not only hard to dissolve and hydrate but very sticky and agglomeration was frequent. Because large batch sizes and a large quantity of powders had to be handled and fed into the mixer, a high powder intake rate was needed. The resulting product is very foamy and oxygen-sensitive, and uses high-cost ingredients, but the foam equates to product loss and less production efficiency.

The solution required by the customer would have to properly disperse, mix, hydrate, and emulsify the product while addressing challenges with different powder solubility curves. After trials were run at Tetra Pak’s Mixing Technology Test Center in Denmark, it was able to fine-tune and optimize the

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Consumers are looking for enhanced flavors, more spice in sauces and spreads, and more inclusions and toppings in nut butters and ice creams, requiring mixers and blenders to be more versatile than ever.

mixing parameters using a multistage in-line emulsification head. The results were shorter batch time and higher capacity, along with superior ingredient functionality, mainly in the caseinates and gums. The mixing equipment modifications have now been applied at all three of the customer’s facilities.

as most of these devices are not practical to scale and will require extra time and resources for experimentation once the project moves on to pilot or production scale.”

Dry cleaning expands

Sanitizing material contact surfaces quickly and economically is vital to all food processes, but especially those involving frequent changeovers where cross contamination between batches cannot be tolerated. CIP systems can minimize downPHOTO COURTESY OF TETRA PAK time and the likelihood of human Growth in mini mixers error, resulting in greater product Consumers constantly demand new products that quality and plant productivity. cater to every type of lifestyle, so the food indusAccording to Munson Machinery, while most try is frequently under pressure to formulate new CIP systems follow a multi-step wet process of products, according to Medina. “Hypoallergenic rinsing, washing, rinsing again, sanitizing, and concerns, vegan, non-dairy, low-carb, and other drying, for some processes that would be adversedietary trends push food manufacturers to come ly affected using water, dry cleaning solutions up with more formulations more often, and mini or do exist. These dry solutions rely on vacuuming tabletop mixers and blenders reduce the volume of and using governmental-agency-approved alcoingredients required to try out new ideas, and also hol-based wipes to remove excess material and reduce the time and costs involved,” he says. sanitize surfaces.

Rotary batch mini mixers are sometimes used Munson Machinery says the challenges are that by processors of artisanal food and beverage dry cleaning can be much more labor-intensive and products produced in small batches. Biron Teas take longer to complete. However, for food proin Macon, Ga., considered using a V cone blender, cessing environments where dried foods are hanbut the footprint required to accommodate the dled and the plant environment must be kept dry rotation of the vessel was too large for its space. and low humidity maintained, using dry cleaning The company ultimately chose a rotary batch mini might be the only alternative. mixer because of its gentle handling of ingredients Pontes highlights the positive side of these sysand small footprint. “Organic artisanal teas, especialtems. “Dry clean in place is very useful for cleanly blends with herbs, wildflowers, oils, and berries, ing the areas where liquids and humidity must can’t be crushed or pulverized. The mixer gently be avoided, like powder handling systems. These tumbles and turns a delicate, sometimes sticky tea systems should be designed to secure food safemix into a uniform blend without pulverizing or powty with the highest standards of hygiene and to dering,” says a Biron Teas representative, who did enable fast cleaning and low downtime,” he says. not want to be identified in this story.

“It is important to keep the dry and wet eleMini/tabletop versions of mixers and blenders ments separate in the manufacturing area, not often come with the same options as high-capacity only for lowering contamination risk and product models, but some cannot be relied upon to acculosses, but also for improving the performance rately predict the performance of their full-scale of the powder handling systems,” adds Pontes. counterparts for offline laboratory, pilot plant, “The powder flowability changes according to small-production, or pre-blending applications. humidity and it affects the powder intake rates “Ideally, R&D work should be done on laboraand production capacity of mixing and blending tory mixers and blenders that are truly scalable systems.” so that results can be replicated in larger volumes Gericke Group North American Process/Infini-Mix in a straightforward manner,” says Banaszek. “On www.gerickegroup.com www.wemixstuff.com a small scale, blade size and agitator power tend to be oversized compared to the batch volume, IKA Works Ross Mixers www.ikaprocess.com www.mixers.com resulting in unrealistic heat transfer rates and batch cycles. The common mistake is completely Munson Machinery Tetra Pak www.munsonmachinery.com www.tetrapak.com relying on residential kitchen mixers and blenders,

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CASE STUDY SAINT ARNOLD BREWING AARON HAND |

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Texas’s Oldest Craft Brewer Finds New Ways to Manage Aluminum Can Waste As demand for Saint Arnold’s beer grew, so did the need for sustainable solutions to manage excess waste. The Weima E.200 drainage press provided an easy way to dispose of underfilled or damaged cans.

W

HEN SAINT ARNOLD BREWING shipped its first keg of beer in 1994, it launched itself as Houston’s first craft brewer. Almost 40 years later, as Texas’s oldest craft brewer, Saint Arnold is still finding new ways to reinvent itself.

Faced with challenges posed by excess waste, the brewer was on the search for sustainable solutions when the team ran across game-changing equipment at the Craft Brewers Conference in Denver a few years ago. They had been dutifully recycling cans that had never been used—for discontinued brands, for example—but crushing reject cans that had already been filled was another matter and not something they could handle in-house.

But Saint Arnold, the patron saint of brewers and the company’s namesake, smiled down on them when they discovered the Weima E.200 drainage press. It enables the brewer to much more easily recycle aluminum cans that are unsaleable.

The brewer had been grappling with an abun-

dance of underfilled or damaged cans that were accumulating within its facility, occupying precious storage space and hindering efficient operations.

“What this piece of equipment did for us is now we can recycle low-fill cans or out-of-date cans,” says Phil Dagger, Saint Arnold’s packaging manager. “It used to be that anything out of date, we’d have to save it up, ship it out to a recycling company, and pay them to do that in order to recycle it correctly.”

With the drainage press from Weima, Saint Arnold is easily able to empty and crush a load of cans into 3 to 4 lb pucks, with full pallets shipped off to recycling.

Instead of paying for that service, Saint Arnold is reaping the benefits in the money it gets back for that crushed aluminum, providing a quick ROI on the E.200. “Just the amount of money we’re getting back for being able to recycle those cans pays it off in about a year and a half,” Dagger says. Factoring in the other benefits the brewer receives, the ROI is more like nine months, he estimates.

How the drainage press works

PHOTO COURTESY OF WEIMA

Empty, damaged cans are fed by hand into the Weima E.200.

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The Weima E.200 is a universal hopper with a sizable infeed capacity. The machine drains underfilled or out-of-spec product in one easy step. Rejected cans can be ejected directly into the machine’s hopper, which punctures them so the contents can be drained into a collection bin.

All rejected cans are then easily compressed into 200 mm discs for recycling.

The machine can also be hand-fed in the case of loose cans that need crushing. In Saint Arnold’s case, they weren’t able to make use of the inline version of the drainage press because of line space, Dagger says. Instead, rejected cans are collected in a bucket to the side of the processing line, and that bucket is dumped into the drainage press.

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Liquid Processing SOLUTIONS

PHOTO COURTESY OF SAINT ARNOLD BREWING

Workers empty the bucket of cans daily typically, though sometimes twice a day, Dagger says, noting that the bucket is easier to dump if it’s not quite full. Dagger and his team have hooked up a pipe to existing fittings on the press to the drain to keep the flow of drained beer cleaner.

Despite space constraints in its brewing facility, Saint Arnold was still able to strategically place the free-standing Weima machine on-site.

The damaged cans are manually loaded into the hopper, which swiftly compresses them, reducing volume and liberating much-needed space.

Instead of storing damaged cans in bulk in its warehouse before shipping to recycling, Saint Arnold is now able to take up much less space by storing tightly compressed discs of aluminum instead of partially filled cans. Not only does this maximize floor space between trips to the recycler, but it also increases the value of the aluminum due to its compressed form. The new system also significantly reduces the frequency of shipments to the recycler, streamlining logistics and minimizing transportation emissions.

Saint Arnold, Texas’s oldest craft brewer, creates beer sold in distinctive, colorful cans.

Continued sustainability efforts Crafting beer sold in distinctive, colorful cans has set Saint Arnold Brewing apart. As part of the craft brewing community, there’s also a strong tradition of environmental responsibility. Saint Arnold’s Recycle Rewards program, for example, incentivizes customers to return printed cardboard six-pack carriers for reuse—not only to reduce waste but also to save costs by repurposing the expensive carriers.

The move to the Weima E.200 has been huge for Saint Arnold’s recycling efforts, Dagger says.

“We were dumping our used cans in the garbage can,” he concedes, pointing to the added cost savings they’re now seeing with fewer garbage pickups. Recalls and out-of-date product that was already palletized was going to the recycler, but that wasn’t true of the individual rejects. “For daily low-fills, the time it took for somebody to open each can, dump it, and make sure it’s dried out—we just couldn’t sustain that.”

Weima www.weima.com

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VALVE CONTROLLER The Fisher valve controller interprets data to create a path to action by combining technology, experience-based algorithms, and continuous analytics. The Fieldvue DVC7K digital controller analyzes data locally via its on-board diagnostics. If a problem is detected, an alert is created, including the recommended actions to fix it. All the information can be viewed at the controller’s local user interface, via Emerson Secure Bluetooth wireless technology, or remotely after it is transmitted via a wired digital network to a host.

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CONDUIT HUB Designed to protect electrical systems in demanding and contamination-sensitive environments, the T&B Fittings conduit hub is made of 316 stainless steel and has a fully curved surface to promote water runoff, hygiene, and corrosion resistance. A UL Type 4X connection minimizes gaps between the conduit and enclosure. The cylinder conduit hub is IEC IP66 and IP67 rated and can be temporarily submerged. An NSF-certified TPE sealing ring covers and helps protect exposed threads from bacterial accumulation and growth.

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Fully connected to Industry 4.0, Coval multistage vacuum pumps include a human-machine interface (HMI) that provides real-time information to operators to help them react to equipment problems. The IO-Link interface allows communication with higher-level protocols (EtherNet/IP, Profinet, EtherCAT, etc.). All setting and diagnostic functions are available and modifiable on mobile devices. IP65 rated, the CMS HD VX pumps provide suction flow rates up to 1,600 Nl/min.

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Liquid Processing SOLUTIONS

VALVE PROTECTION SYSTEM The Gericke valve rotor protection system monitors rotary valve operation 24/7, automatically detects contact between the rotor and housing, and in the event of detection, immediately shuts down power to the drive motor to stop the process. The RotaSafe RS1 system features amplification hardware for control over detection, security, and other parameters.

Included as standard equipment on Gericke rotary valves, the system can be retrofitted onto existing Gericke RotaVal valves.

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FLOW SENSOR The Krohne flow sensor for sanitary and hygienic applications has a single straight-tube design suitable for viscous and dense fluids, such as honey, cacao mass, ketchup, mayonnaise, and minced meat. Made of stainless steel, the Optiflux 6000 electromagnetic flow sensor has a reinforced PFA liner, a full-bore pipe cross-section without restrictions, and a diameter range up to DN 150. The FDA-approved unit also is EHEDG and 3-A certified.

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Engineered for use in steep, angled chutes, the Industrial Magnetics plate magnet features a strong surface contact.

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X-RAY SYSTEM

Featuring an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), IDEC photoelectric sensors offer response times to 0.5 m/s for the detection of smaller and fastermoving objects. The SA2E miniature sensors are switchable between “light-on” and “dark-on” operating modes; applicable models have an on-board sensitivity or range adjustment potentiometer. Sensing distances range up to 20 m for the through-beam version, up to 5 m for the retro-reflective model, and between 10 and 1,000 mm for three other reflective units.

The Anritsu X-ray system is equipped with a sensor that generates high-resolution X-ray images to enhance the detection of fine metal and bone fragments and provide detection in thick products. Suitable for high-speed, challenging production environments, the DualX+ dual-energy X-ray system is supported by fully automated quality control and quality management software, with ample data storage for all the results.

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A tool-free replacement for standard hose clamp-style connectors, BFM fittings can be used on any brand of sifter and with offset, vibrating, and oscillating equipment. A variety of materials, diameters, and lengths are available. The sifter fittings are suitable for any area where flexible hose couplings are required, including sanitary applications.

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ELECTRONIC CIRCUIT BREAKER

Engineered for use with small to mediumsized packaged foods, the Mettler Toledo X-ray inspection system detects physical contaminants, such as glass, stone, and bone.

In addition to foreign material detection and removal, the X12 system can perform a variety of product integrity checks. It offers an intuitive user interface and simplified access for cleaning and maintenance.

Able to configure all S2 output variants, the Wago electronic circuit breaker features LED indicators to identify device status. The output configuration is available in seven different modes, including tripped, channel state, or early current threshold indicators. An indented tool-operated button accesses the manual reset wheel. The 24-VDC, single-channel circuit breaker has an operating temperature range of -13 to 158°F.

Mettler Toledo | mt.com/pi

Wago | wago.com

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π SHIPPING SUPPL SPECIALISTS

LABEL PRODUCTS IN STOC N 13 LOCATIONS FOR FAST SHIPPING ORDER B M FOR SAME DA SHIPPING

COMPLETE CATALOG

1-800-295-5510 uline.com

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Alfa Laval software can be added to all new and existing Alfa Laval pump installations to continuously monitor and analyze pump vibration data. A simple dashboard provides an intuitive overview of the condition of the equipment. The Analytics condition monitoring software not only detects faults, it also pinpoints the likely causes of the problem. A cybersecure solution, the software enables the transmission of all data via a mobile network and requires no connection to a plant internet.

Alfa Laval | alfalaval.com

INDUSTRIAL PC

SERVO MOTOR s

3 2:22 PM

CONDITION MONITORING SOFTWARE

The Beckhoff Industrial PC (IPC) enables a range of applications, such as multi-axis motion and complex human-machine interface (HMI) applications. Leveraging Intel processors with up to 16 cores, the C6040 IPC handles automation projects with a compact controller. Each core can be configured individually via the clock frequency. An additional power supply integrated on the motherboard provides power reserves to fully utilize the unit’s computing capabilities.

ERIEZ_ VibAd_HalfPg_ProFood_8_23.qxp_Layout 1 6/21/23 7:37 PM Page 1 Beckhoff | beckhoff.com

ATEX certified and IECEx/cETLus listed, the Kollmorgen servo motor is suitable for environments where flammable gases, mists, or vapors might exist in explosive or ignitable concentrations. The 480-VAC Goldline EBH high-voltage servo motor offers speeds up to 7,500 rpm with high torque density. An applied flameproof method of protection contains any internal ignition within the motor housing.

Kollmorgen kollmorgen.com

Long Overhang, High Capacity

Vibratory Feeders With 100% more capacity (45 tph) and twice the available tray size/mass than our next largest feeder, Eriez high capacity 76 Series Electromagnetic Vibratory Feeders are designed for packaging applications with high head loads or needing exceptionally long overhang.

• Handles high head loads • Exceptionally long overhang • Up to 45 tph • High speed and high deflection drives

Vibratory Feeders, Conveyors & Screeners | Eriez.com | 814.835.6000 1223_PlantFloorProducts.indd 47

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PLANT FLOOR NEW PRODUCTS

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INTEGRATED CONVEYOR SYSTEM

The AFC integrated conveyor system combines a bag break station with a flexible screw conveyor. The bag break station sits atop the conveyor infeed hopper, allowing the system to fit into tight processing lines. Suitable for materials and ingredients that might generate dust when loaded into a process, it includes a fan and filter system that continuously draws fine particles inside the unit. As bags are emptied, the bulk material passes into the sealed conveyor infeed hopper for automated transfer to a mixer, bagger, or container. A dust collection hopper captures fine particles for reuse, while designedin fork pockets assist movement from one processing line to another.

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Automated Flexible Conveyor | afcspiralfeeder.com

TUMBLE BLENDER Designed for atmospheric operation, the Ross tumble blender uses diffusion mixing to blend powders, granules, pellets, and other free-flowing solids.

The Model VCB-50 V cone blender has a Type 316 stainless-steel intensifier bar fitted with 19-in. chopper blades operating at 475 rpm. Driven by a 15-hp motor, the intensifier bar is equipped with fan-style nozzles for minor liquid additions. The V-shaped vessel is driven by a 30-hp motor to about 12 rpm.

The control panel includes a 7-in. color touchscreen display with individual start/stop and speed controls, a jog function, cycle timer, and recipe system.

Charles Ross & Son | mixers.com

SINCE 1893, we’ve been growing, nurturing, shipping, selling and marketing the tastiest, highest quality citrus from our farms to citrus fans around the world.

Our roots run deep in California and Arizona, where multi-generational family farmers remain committed to the Sunkist legacy of consistently and responsibly delivering a premium brand that consumers trust. No matter the season, citrus can make life a whole lot sweeter (and healthier).

Sunkist is a registered trademark of Sunkist Growers Inc., U.S.A. © 2023. Produce of U.S.A.

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LEARN HOW WE GROW

11/16/23 14:47

▲

BULK BAG DISCHARGER

The Flexicon bulk bag discharger includes a removable bag-lifting frame held by forklift above a palletized bulk bag for the insertion of bag straps into holders. A clamp ring on a pneumatically actuated telescoping tube connects the clean side of the spout to the clean side of the equipment and then lowers as it empties and elongates the bag, and bag activators raise the bag bottom into a V shape for evacuation. An enclosed hopper charges a non-flow-through pick-up adapter that feeds vacuum conveyor lines. The BFF Series bulk bag discharger is constructed of carbon steel with an industrial finish, or in stainless steel finished to sanitary or industrial standards.

BAG DUMP STATION

The Dorner conveyor platform employs durable rollers to move pallets. The ERT250 platform features an electric lift-and-transfer module, which uses the same controllers that operate the conveyor. The system has zoning capability through direct I/O built into the control modules and displays pallet moving capability without the need for a PLC.

The Volkmann bag dump station accepts up to 40 L of powder, pellets, granules, and other dry solids in a hopper and then automatically discharges the material for transfer. Typically used as a companion for Volkmann pneumatic vacuum conveying systems, the Mini Rip and Tip bag dump station is suitable for loading dry material in modest volumes, such as minor and micro ingredients, and small batches in laboratory settings. It features stainless-steel construction in all product contact areas and is offered with optional casters.

Dorner | dornerconveyors.com

Volkmann | volkmannusa.com

Flexicon | flexicon.com

CONVEYOR PLATFORM

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11/16/23 14:48

CASE STUDY INTELLIGENT FOODS MICHAEL COSTA |

SENIOR EDITOR

Robots Help Meal Kit Company Keep Pace With Ambitious Production Goals E-commerce giant Intelligent Foods utilizes the CR3 system from Chef Robotics to increase accuracy, speed, and volume on the line while saving labor.

D

URING THE PANDEMIC, direct-to-consumer meal kit sales skyrocketed as consumers sheltering in place took advantage of the door-todoor convenience and nutritional variety that meal kits offer, saving them a trip to the grocery store and time spent preparing meals from scratch. Those sales continued long after the pandemic ended, with worldwide meal kit revenue expected to grow past $17 billion in 2023 and forecast to exceed $25 million by 2027, according to Statista. By 2030, that number is predicted to reach $64.4 billion.

Based on those robust projections, it’s not surprising that Intelligent Foods, one of the country’s largest meal kit companies, has expanded operations to grow its customer base. Intelligent Foods has the brands Sunbasket, Gobble, and Prüvit under its umbrella, and also handles contract work for other meal kit companies like Trifecta, Rastelli’s, and Little Spoon, in two processing facil-

PHOTO COURTESY OF INTELLIGENT FOODS

Intelligent Foods has a total of 12 Chef Robotics CR3 pick-and-place robots stationed alongside workers in its two production facilities in California and New Jersey.

50

ities in California and New Jersey—96,000 and 140,000 sq ft, respectively.

“During COVID, the meal kit space became overpopulated,” says Ramiro Gomez, general manager of Intelligent Foods West, who started at Sunbasket in 2017. “We needed to find a way to be more competitive in acquiring more customers, so we decided to manufacture not just for our brands but for multiple brands, which allows us to compete for a bigger market share. Now, other meal kit companies can use our manufacturing assets, which helps them save money by not having to buy those assets themselves.”

As Intelligent Foods expanded its production plants to accommodate new business, their need to assemble a wide variety of orders faster and more accurately was vital, especially while trying to navigate the ongoing labor crunch impacting the industry. To help solve this challenge, the company turned to automation, and Chef Robotics’ CR3 flexible robotics system, enabled by artificial intelligence (AI) for high-mix food manufacturers. Intelligent Foods puts the robots alongside employees on the line, all working as one to fulfill a steady stream of orders.

“Making meal kits and assembling ready-to-eat meals requires anywhere from four to 15 assembly lines running at once, depending on our workload,” says Gomez. “Chef Robotics was able to help us because there is a labor shortage. For example, between Sunbasket and Gobble, we’ll create about 36 different recipes in a week, and we don’t reuse the same ingredients, so that means quick changeovers are essential. Chef Robotics has a very simple system with a robotic arm that can accurately portion ingredients, and when one meal assembly is done, we just switch over a little piece of tooling on the end of the robot arm, and we’re ready to go. Compare that to a person on the line having to

PROFOOD WORLD | December 2023 | www.profoodworld.com

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Sunbasket is one of several direct-toconsumer meal kit brands under the Intelligent Foods umbrella, and the company also serves as a contract manufacturer for many private label meal kits.

PHOTO COURTESY OF INTELLIGENT FOODS

change their entire PPE every time, and it’s a lot less cumbersome.”

AI learning curve The CR3 robot’s AI improves its pick-and-place accuracy the more it works with a specific ingredient or dish, so each successive run-through on the production line produces faster, more efficient results for Intelligent Foods. The company assembles about 150,000 meals a week between its two plants, and that’s not including private label business, Gomez says.

“We’re able to teach the robots all those different ingredients,” he explains. “Also, these robots are already pre-programmed to deal with a lot of different food types. The more our robots pick, the better they become. The Chef Robotics team can perform data analysis on a specific ingredient and make adjustments to the robot as well, so the pick accuracy improves over time.”

Intelligent Foods operates in an allergen-free environment, and during changeovers, “the robots are wiped down and the tooling arms are disconnected and sent through our validated sanitation process,” Gomez adds. “After that, we wipe down the lines, clean the robots, and then we swab them for allergen residue to verify nothing is there.”

Programmed for performance Currently, Intelligent Foods has seven CR3 robots working with employees on meal kit assembly lines at its two production plants—three in California and four in New Jersey. Another reason Intelligent Foods chose Chef Robotics for its operation, according

to Gomez, was the speed of installation and training for staff to use the robots—crucial when downtime is at a premium.

“Chef Robotics brought in a technician to train our people how to use the robots within a day,” he says. “Each robot has a touchscreen, so we pick an ingredient and it tells us what kind of attachment to put on the arm.

Teaching the robot a new ingredient can be a bit more technical, where we add the new ingredient [to the database], pick the attachment, and tell the robot this is the attachment to use. It’ll grab the ingredient, and then we adjust placement of that ingredient along with the speed we want. After that, the AI starts gathering data and learns.”

Intelligent Foods’ three main brands each have a different food focus: Sunbasket is built around healthy, organic, California-style cuisine with chef-crafted recipes; Gobble is focused on fast preparation family-style meals; and Prüvit is a keto-centric meal service. With the ever-growing variety of foods and meal specifications Intelligent Foods produces for e-commerce and contract customers, Gomez says Chef Robotics solves current challenges while offering the simplicity to pivot quickly when the market changes.

“If we didn’t have Chef Robotics on our lines, we would be paying more for labor, and our changeover times would be longer. Chef Robotics offers a solution for today’s production problems,” he says. “When we looked at some other robotics companies, they were really focused on collecting data to build a giant AI infrastructure, and it was not a practical fit for what we needed on our lines. Chef Robotics gave us a simple pick-andplace system that we could use right away, and it doesn’t matter what size or variability the ingredient is, it can handle it.”

Chef Robotics www.chefrobotics.ai

www.profoodworld.com | December 2023 | PROFOOD WORLD

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FoodSafe Drains 23 www.foodsafedrains.com Frain www.fraingroup.com

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SEW Eurodrive, Inc. OBC www.seweurodrive.com

GEA www.gea.com

1

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1

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3

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15

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2

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Graphite Metallizing Corp www.graphalloy.com

United States Postal Service

Total Distribution (Sum of 15c. and 15e.)

No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to filing Date

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0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

23,619 0

23,957 0

0

0

0

0

649 649 24,268

1,298 1,298 25,255

24,268

25,255

97.33%

94.86%

0 23,619 24,268 97.33%

0 23,957 25,255 94.86%

g. Copies not Distributed (See Instructions to Publishers #4 (page #3)) h. Total (Sum of 15f. and g.)

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X Publication required. Will be printed in the 18. Signature and Title of Editor, Publisher, Business Manager, or Owner Lara Krieger

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09/27/2023

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11/9/23 16:24

TECH PERSPECTIVE MICHAEL COSTA | SENIOR EDITOR

Faster Food Safety Results From Farm to Final Product A recent patent given to Hygiena’s SalQuant system underscores the company’s evolving salmonella quantification tool for processors.

F

OOD PROCESSORS KNOW that detecting and quantifying salmonella is an ongoing battle, so tools used to identify the volume of that pathogen need to evolve for speed and accuracy to better protect the public. Simply enumerating salmonella without contextual data is not enough today, especially for industries like meat processing.

Hygiena’s SalQuant system—which received a U.S. patent earlier this year—is one tool available to processors to quantify salmonella faster than traditional methods such as most probable number (MPN), reducing test results from days to hours.

We spoke with Patrice Chablain, chief scientific officer at Hygiena, to learn more about the technology behind SalQuant, and how it can quantify salmonella throughout the stages of processing.

PFW: Please explain how the SalQuant system works, and how it was developed before coming to market.

CHABLAIN: The patented BAX System SalQuant from Hygiena is a One Health Diagnostics application food processors can use to quantify salmonella from the farm to final product. The BAX System Real-Time PCR Assay for Salmonella enumerates low levels of salmonella with shortened enrichment times. It’s a molecular method that involves following a PCR protocol specific to the matrix of interest, and then running samples on the BAX System Q7 to yield cycle threshold (CT) results. The CT result for each sample is entered into a matrix-specific calculator to generate the corresponding quantified result as Log CFU per sample (or per g or mL).

Prior to commercializing the SalQuant application, the development process involved testing multiple sample types at different inoculation levels to develop the most accurate linear fit curve to then be able to correlate CT values with quantitative results.

PFW: Why is the recent patent granted by the U.S. an important milestone for SalQuant?

PHOTO COURTESY OF HYGIENA

The BAX System Real-Time PCR Assay for salmonella enumerates low levels of salmonella with shortened enrichment times, producing results within hours instead of days.

CHABLAIN: While developing SalQuant, we enlisted help from external partners to analyze thousands of data points or samples and this patent is the result of months of development work. The patent not only strengthens our intellectual property position in quantification but also demonstrates our strategic commitment to developing innovative diagnostics that improve the health of people and animals in our shared environment.

PFW: Why is SalQuant needed in the marketplace, and what challenges does it help solve for processors?

CHABLAIN: Currently, most salmonella testing is to monitor the presence or absence of salmonella, which limits processors from understanding the true risk within their processes. By quantifying salmonella using SalQuant, not only can producers understand salmonella levels at each step of processing, they can also estimate risk and identify which interventions reduce bioburden most significantly, saving time and money. For example, the data gathered from SalQuant can help poultry producers determine the level of chemical interventions rewww.profoodworld.com | December 2023 | PROFOOD WORLD

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TECH PERSPECTIVE

Hygiena’s PCR Assay for Salmonella works with the company’s BAX System Q7 to yield results when samples are entered into a matrix-specific calculator to generate quantified results as Log CFU per sample.

PHOTO COURTESY OF HYGIENA

SalQuant’s results are calculated in Hygiena’s food safety and quality data analytics software that provides insights for processors to make informed food safety decisions in their operations.

quired to reduce and control salmonella throughout their process. SalQuant is a tool that can enable the reduction of chemicals in poultry processing, and ultimately reduce costs for producers.

PFW: What sort of quantitative data and speed of results are generated by SalQuant that make it a better choice for salmonella quantification compared to traditional options?

CHABLAIN: The SalQuant calculators generate a quantitative result in the form of log CFU per sample, or per g or mL. Because SalQuant is an application of a real-time PCR assay, the SalQuant method is a considerably faster and more reliable tool than traditional methods like most probable number, which is a very time- and labor-intensive method.

For example, the poultry industry can make data-driven decisions in just eight to 12 hours with SalQuant, compared to three or four days with MPN. With SalQuant, processors can quantify salmonella to improve and verify sanitation and antimicrobial intervention processes, and meet more stringent regulatory and quality standards while protecting consumers by knowing the risk a positive sample could pose.

PFW: How does a company implement SalQuant into its operation? What equipment and room type are needed for SalQuant to be effective?

CHABLAIN: The company would ultimately need to be equipped and trained to perform PCR in a BSL2 laboratory. The company would need a BAX System Q7 instrument, the Real-Time PCR Assay for Salmonella kits, an incubator, and the associated media and consumables to run PCR. The quantitative results are calculated in SureTrend, which is a food safety and quality data analytics soft-

56

ware that simplifies data management, compliance, and collaboration while providing insights to make informed food safety and quality management decisions.

PFW: How many operators are needed to use SalQuant in a processing facility, and how extensive is the training?

CHABLAIN: Only one person is needed to execute the protocols for SalQuant. It’s ideal if that person has experience with microbiology or PCR. However, it’s very simple to run the BAX System Real-Time Assay for Salmonella on the BAX Q7.

Also, Hygiena installs the instrument and trains the technicians on the workflow. Hygiena developed SalQuant to be simple and user-friendly.

PFW: Approximately how many SalQuant systems are in use right now in the U.S.?

CHABLAIN: The top protein companies in the United States utilize BAX System SalQuant to monitor their production processes based on quantified salmonella data. The use of SalQuant also extends to matrices relevant to the beef and pork industries, helping them understand the levels of contamination present during processing.

It is a tool that is used across the globe with our food safety customers.

PFW: How do you see SalQuant evolving further, and what new features might be added in coming years?

CHABLAIN: We explored whether we need to develop calculators for other matrices that are relevant to our customers. We’ve applied the same quantification approach to other pathogens of interest, and we offer a quantitative method for our BAX assays for listeria, campylobacter, E. coli O157:H7, and vibrio. Given our commitment to helping customers solve their biggest food safety challenges and reduce risk to human health, we are exploring solutions for the food industry as they begin to consider serotyping and virulence factors as part of their food safety testing programs.

Hygiena www.hygiena.com

PROFOOD WORLD | December 2023 | www.profoodworld.com

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Pair that with the option of single-cable technology and you’ve got a flexible, precise servo drive solution.

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